And then there was one…

Not too long ago, Dogtown was emotionally blackmailed to come and collect two unwanted dogs, who was destined to be dropped off next to the road if we didn’t. Receiving these type of threats are just another part of the job. We collected the two dogs and the sight of them were tragic. If you have ever seen a skeleton of a dog, you’d know what they looked like. They were too weak to hold their heads up, they couldn’t stand for very long so they mostly just lay down all the time. They were starving. We had to feed them small meals through out the day so that their digestive system could adjust to having to digest food again. We renamed them Aslan and Jadis, their previous names were in their past like their suffering was. Jadis was diagnosed with mammary cancer, but she was too weak to receive surgery, we had to wait.

Aslan had a very thick coat, which hid his bony body but Jadis’s appearance was haunting. Never the less, all she wanted to do is to be close to a human. Place her head on your lap, or place her paw in your hand. As time passed, their energy levels picked up, they picked up some weight and they could trot around in their garden and shout at the other dogs. We could finally deal with Jadis’ cancer.

One morning, I walked towards their gardens and I couldn’t see Jadis waiting for her breakfast as usual. I realised something is very wrong. I found her in her house, lying on her cushions, not breathing. A little part of me died too.

Today, about a month later, I basically spent the whole day with Aslan. He was finally strong enough and trusting enough to let me take him to the vet. He panicked the whole time until he just completely gave up. He lay down in a little ball, he stopped protesting, stopped trying to protect himself, he just closed his eyes and gave up.

After collecting him from surgery I carried the whole 28 kilograms of him up the hill, because he just would not walk. He just lay down and hid his head. I don’t know if he still misses Jadis, but I wish she could have been here to welcome him back after his ordeal. I think she would have been able to help him. I think he wishes that she was still here as well.